Evidence of meeting #96 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vehicle.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sun Country Highway Ltd.
Why? It was all federal incentives in Norway, for the most part.
We have chargers in Norway too. They just made electric vehicles, black and white, so much better to buy than regular vehicles. It was a federal incentive that did that.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
Yes, I would just add to the Norway experience that it's true that government played a big role in incentives, but these were not one-time incentives; these were incentives at many levels. Some were financial, but some are not financial. They estimate that the incentive every year is about $12,000, so even Norway is now reconsidering the whole issue of incentives.
One thing is very clear: without incentives at this early stage of deployment, we will not be making any targets in terms of sales or anything such as that. They are so critical to consumers' early adoption of electric vehicles. We should be looking at them provincially and federally, and combining them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Mr. Badawey, do you have a short question? Oh, you're fine.
Is everybody good?
Thank you very much to our witnesses.
Go ahead, Mr. Graham, quickly.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Mr. Rathwell and Ms. Kargas, I drive 65,000 kilometres a year, mostly on dirt roads and back roads, given the nature of my job. How do we expect to succeed with electric cars before we have battery swap stations where I can just swap a battery and keep going, and therefore have standardized batteries?
We have to.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sun Country Highway Ltd.
It's going to be difficult for the automakers to agree to swapping batteries. There are too many variations in vehicles. With the level 2 charging, it was pretty amazing that they agreed to that. As for level 3, they haven't agreed to that yet, so battery swaps are probably not going to happen unless it's a private fleet.
President, Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association
That's absolutely right. Much of the technology, the design, is proprietary. Keep in mind how different vehicles are in their design. I don't think you'll ever see just a swap system. Pilot programs have been tried in Israel and other places, and they haven't worked.
By the way, when we talk about infrastructure or a recharging station, one station is not going to do it. All the reports I've seen show that many, many more charging stations are going to be required in terms of our infrastructure. Right now, we're so far from that objective that it will impede, actually, people's ability to see the value proposition as they go forward, particularly if they are doubtful that they'll be able to get recharging.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
We have to adjourn the meeting now, but witnesses have not left the room, so if anybody has a pressing question, I'm sure they'd be glad to answer.
Thank you all very much, and thank you again to the witnesses.
The meeting is adjourned.